Ponyville ninjas: Twisted Timelines
by Ebony umbreon
Summary: When Twilight takes a more head on approach to stopping Starlight, sending both Rainbow Dash and the timeline into a massive tailspin, she finds herself in a Ponyville where the ninjas have the elements of harmony's place, everything is more modern and it's much more peaceful... leaving Twilight with the choice between fixing her mistake or live here... FOREVER
1. Welcome to Ponyville

**So~ guess who's back? This girl! and after seeing the poll, more people wanted to see Twisted timelines so, that's what I've done. please enjoy the sequel to Ponyville Ninjas, Twisted Timelines!**

Starlight rolled her eyes at Twilight as she fired a beam of cyan at the alicorn, who just about ducked out of the way, Spike clinging fearfully to her back. "You just don't give up, do you?"

Twilight grit her teeth. Every time she tried to stop Starlight, things only seemed to get worse. Starlight could easily counter every spell she pulled, trying to stop Rainbow dash from performing the rainboom. There had to be something she could do… But Starlight had been practising her magic… what could Twilight do that Starlight could not? That's when she remembered, could she do it? Perhaps. It was worth a shot.

The unicorn smirked, believing she had outperformed her opponent. She turned around and began to glide over to the rainbow filly, who was tearing through the air, a looked of satisfaction on her face.

"what do we do Twilight?" Spike whispered.

"I have an idea." She Inhaled deeply and spread her wings wide open, ready for take-off. "Hold on tight." Spike gripped his friend tighter as she shot off after Starlight, and slammed straight into her, knocking the unicorn off course, but in the process, sending Rainbow Dash into a tailspin, sending her hurtling towards the ground far below.

Twilight didn't notice this however. She was angry. Angry at what Starlight had done. In this timeline. In all the timelines… and aimed a kick, straight for Starlight's face. A satisfying thud echoed throughout the sky, as everypony turned, to look at the alicorn, assaulting a unicorn, a seemingly innocent unicorn, cowering in fear.

Starlight laughed, "I didn't expect a princess to stoop so low…" A portal opened up above Twilight. She growled in frustration, trying to cling onto something, or even drag Starlight with her, but to no avail. She was sucked through…

* * *

Twilight moaned as she was spat out onto the paved street, followed suit by Spike. "great…" She sighed, standing up and looking about, "now wh-whaat?" She stuttered as she looked about the streets of Ponyville. Ordinary, plain… if not, slightly more modern.

"Uh Twilight?" Spike said quietly, pointing at something. The alicorn looked around, eyes widening in shock. The library. Perfectly intact, perfectly fine. It was as if Tirek had never attacked.

"this can't be right…" She mumbled, stumbling towards her home, stopping at the door to read the sign nailed on it.

 _'_ _opening hours:_

 _Monday-Friday: 7:00-22:00_

 _Saturday: 9:00-21:00_

 _If no one is in during these times, please come back later, thanks.'_

"strange…" she said before pushing the door open. And stared. There, she saw one of the least expected ponies, cataloguing all the books. A snow white Pegasus with a military styled silvery blonde mane and tail… with a snowflake as his cutie mark… "Zane?" Twilight mumbled in shock, "ZANE?!"

The stallion looked around, startled and dropped his book, "Princess…" he gasped, sinking into a deep bow, "I did not think that…"

"that… what? Is something wrong? How is the library still in one piece? Why are you in here? How are you in here?" Twilight paused awkwardly, rubbing her hoof, "please, don't do that…"

"yeah, she isn't keen on her princess title…" Spike added.

Zane stood back up, "No… I do not think so… well, perhaps." He glided over to the alicorn and gave her a quick scan, "Miss Sparkle, I must ask, how have you gained these wings, if you never performed the spell in this place? And what is this strange aura radiating off you?"

"What do you mean?" She said, taken aback, "of course I…" she trailed off, remembering this wasn't her own timeline, "oh… Zane… It's complicated."

The stallion tilted his head, perplexed, "how do you know my name? I do believe we have never met."

Twilight swallowed, "well, the thing is, we _have_. Just in a different timeline."

Zane chuckled slightly and shook his head, "do not joke Miss Sparkle, I was unaware of this strange sense of humour."

The princess of friendship sighed, "how do you know who I am if you say we have never met?"

Zane sighed, "well, considering you seemingly know me, I can tell you without worry…" There was a click and Zane reached for his chest panel, and opened it. The dragon and the unicorn gasped, unaware of Zane's capability to do this.

"h-how?!" Spike exclaimed, hiding behind Twilight's hind legs.

The stallion sighed, a deep exasperated sigh, "I am an android, my friend… do not be afraid. I have no intentions to harm you. In answer to your question Miss, I am able to extract information from the internet and, well, this is how I know you. But I know you and I are not the same, so… how do you know _me_?"

Twilight swallowed, "I-I told you, we met in another timeline. Listen, I was fighting a mare named Starlight Glimmer and she did something to the timeline… and now…" she paused, "you are here…"

"What about Ninjago?" Spike said, finally. Zane flinched.

"I am unaware of its current state…" He said sorrowfully, "The mirror was broken, from our side, while we were battling Discord… and… we had to find a _permanent_ place in this world." He smiled, "it is intriguing, definitely, to find more about Equestrian culture, just not from Sensei…" His ears perked up, "you know of home?"

"Only what you told us…" Twilight said sheepishly, seeing Zane's ears droop, "sorry…"

"It is not a problem my friend, not at all. In fact-"

A loud crash came from outside shortly followed by a knock at the door.

"Oh dear… excuse me for a moment," he flew over to the door and opened it, an indigo unicorn falling through it onto the floor, before getting up and slamming the door shut, barring it with her arms.

"Reena?" Spike whispered.

"What have you done now?" Zane said flatly.

Reena grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him violently, "you gotta help me man! Jay… it- GAH!" Reena fell backwards, clutching at what was now apparent to be a black collar around her throat as she convulsed in pain.

Twilight and Spike raced over to her, but Zane held them back with an outstretched wing. "careful." He briefly examined the collar before freezing it and whispering, "stay still," to the pony before slamming his hoof onto it, causing the collar to shatter.

She gasped, her green eyes widening as she felt her neck, "th-thanks…" she muttered only just realising there were two others staring at her. She scowled, clearly not recognising them, "What the hell are you looking at?"

"Show them some respect Reena," Zane sighed, helping the unicorn to stand, "one of these two is a princess. Now, any other reason you came?"

"mmhmm." The mare said, not particularly bothered by Zane's words and instead examining Twilight's wings, "well… No. Not particularly. Except for the fact Jay invited you over to celebrate his new project and one of the ponies who volunteered to help test it is in hospital again."

The white Pegasus scowled, "and who might this pony be?"

"Rainbow Dash." The alicorn's heart skipped a beat.

Zane's scowl deepened, "of course." He nodded to Twilight and Spike before turning back to Reena, "this is Miss Twilight Sparkle and this is… Spike." He said, the two waved at Reena, and he left.

The unicorn frowned at them both, before sitting down on the floor. Twilight did the same, and said experimentally, knowing how strange Reena was, "do you remember me?"

"No." She replied flatly, "should I?"

Twilight sighed, "I doubt so…" She considered for a moment, using the spell to send Spike and her back to the rainboom… but she wanted to learn more of this Equestria first.


	2. The library basement

Reena tilted her head sceptically at the alicorn, "I feel like I should know you."

"What?" Twilight said, confused.

The unicorn shook her head, "Ah, whatever." She stood up and trotted over to a large pile of books that Zane had left scattered on the floor. She grumbled to herself as her horn began to glow grey and picked them up, placing them neatly back onto the shelf.

"Soooo..." Spike said awkwardly, "What brought you to Equestria?"

Reena looked around briefly before getting back to her work, "Me? Oh you know… I was looking for help… From the legendary ninja, because reasons… But that kind of screwed up…" she paused, sighing, "stupid robots…"

Twilight frowned, "Robots?"

"You wouldn't know."

"I would like to, Ninjago sounds like a fascinating place," The alicorn said, trying to figure out more about what had happened, "The only way here is the mirror right?"

"Was," Reena corrected her, "But it was smashed, 'bout an hour after I came through. Yeah, Ninjago. Great place. _'_ _Come to Ninjago, every other year we are assaulted by evil forces.'_ But that doesn't sound good on advertisements so they leave that part out."

"Okay…" Twilight said quietly, slightly put off, "Do you know what broke it?"

Reena scowled, "Hell if I know. Probably the robots." She paused, biting her lip, "... Yeah... Probably the robots..." She trailed off, her gaze lowered to the floor as she subconsciously scratched the back of her neck.

"Robots?" Twilight questioned further, confused as to what those 'robots' could be.

"Urgh, why am I even telling you this? I don't know you. You wouldn't understand," Reena groaned, quickly changing the subject, straightening up and checking what appeared to be some gadget on her hoof, "Great. 5:42. Zane's probably expecting check up on Lloyd…"

"Lloyd?" Twilight repeated, if he was an alicorn back in her timeline… Would that mean he's a prince in this one? But… Why would anypony need to check up on him? Had something happened?

"Hey, purples," Reena said, standing by the stairwell, "Over here. I'm keeping an eye on you."

Spike and Twilight followed Reena down the stairs. Twilight looked over at Spike and whispered, "We haven't really got any answers… But I know the ninja are stuck here because of the mirror being broken, possibly by a menace that Ninjago was facing… Hmm... But, it sounds like something that occurs often, like here, so… Nothing specifically seems to have been altered there… But it must have been."

"What if it's like a time ripple?" Spike suggested. Twilight gasped.

"The butterfly effect…"

"Damn it you stupid thing! WORK!" They heard crashing from ahead and they both dashed to the bottom of the stairway to figure out what was happening. All they saw however, was Reena smashing her hoof against a control panel as she yelled into her headset.

"What. Is that?" Twilight asked, tilting her head.

"Communication thing. You know, monitor display, control panel, it's for keeping in contact when the boys are off on solo missions or whatever."

"What?" Twilight was even more confused; she didn't think she'd ever heard of a monitor.

"You aren't from around here are you?" Reena said, narrowing her eyes, "No one. NO ONE in this place doesn't know about Jay's 'inventions'…", The alicorn princess didn't have time to respond before Reena jabbed her in the chest and snarled, "So where the hell have you been the last year?"

Twilight gulped, slightly intimidated, "I don't know. I don't know if I exist in this timeline or not." Reena raised an invisible eyebrow. The princess pondered whether she should say what was happening, or that she could just leave and put everything back to normal. She felt the weight of the scroll under her wing. Wait. No she didn't. Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no! She gasped.

"What?", The indigo pony quickly stepped backwards, as though worried she had done something.

"It's gone!" Twilight cried, unfurling her wings in panic, "No, no, no, no, no!"

"You... Okay there, princess?" The unicorn asked, tentatively, eyes trained on her wings.

"Nothing!" she forced a smile. How did she know she was a princess? Did she even mention that?

"Of course."

Twilight watched as Reena went back to fiddling with dials and buttons, "Damn it! PICK UP LLOYD!"

"Do you need help?"

"What would you know about tech, pony-out-of-time?"

"I was just trying to help…" Twilight sighed.

"I can handle this… Just gotta… Ah… Nope. Damn it!" Reena threw down the headset in frustration, "He's been impossible to reach for a week… Maybe he shouldn't have gone alone…" She growled as a bell sounded, signifying someone entering the library, "Wait here." She commanded, galloping back up the stairs, Twilight listening to the sound of voices.

"What is it this time?"

"Well…" It was Applebloom's voice, "Me an' the other crusaders wanted to know if you wan'ed ta join us, ya know since ya-"

"NO!" Twilight flinched, creeping up the stairs to look at the scene unfolding, as Reena stopped, taking in a deep breath and looking at the slightly unnerved Applebloom in front of her, "Look, I love you guys a lot, really, I do but uh... Well things are a little busy here right now so I can't... Really... Y'know... Spare much time at the moment," She chuckled weakly, "Mr. Frost'll have a fit."

 _'Mr. Frost...?'_

"Right," The filly mumbled, visibly deflated, "Sorry."

"It's okay," Reena sighed, before quickly changing the subject, "I'm assuming this isn't the only reason you're here?"

"Nope!" Applebloom perked up, "Do ya have any books on Manehatten? Or writin' all fancy like? Or, or talking fancy style?"

"I think so…" Reena turned around, shooting Twilight a quick glance before picking out three books from the shelf, "What's it for?"

"I wan'ed ta talk to mah big sis… I heard she's a proper city pony!"

 _'Applejack!'_

Reena smiled weakly, a wistful expression on her face, "I'm sure she'd like that."

" 'Cept…. She's never wrote to us or nothing… An' ahm not sure if she knows anythin' 'bout me or nothin'…"

"You can always try."

"I wanna see 'er!" Applebloom pouted.

"Maybe someday Bloom, maybe someday."

"Ya think?"

"Yeah, pretty sure."

"Thanks!" Applebloom nearly bowled the unicorn over as she pulled her into a tight hug and put the books into her old, patched up saddlebags before skipping out.

"AND have 'em back by Tuesday!" Reena called after her before looking at the wide-eyed alicorn, "You got a problem?"

"No… Just… Applebloom's si- Applejack? She's in Manehatten?"

"As she always has been. The apple that is an orange." Reena looked at her hoof watch and groaned, "Okay, time to get moving." She began to trot out the door before turning back and saying, "Well? You want a grand tour or what?


	3. First contact

"And that's-"

"Sugarcube corner!" Twilight interrupted, as Reena guided them around the town which, unsurprisingly, Twilight could instantly recognise and name.

"Correct again," Reena mumbled, clearly irritated by Twilight's knowledge, "been here before?"

"I live here!" The alicorn responded, then realising the weird looks she was receiving added quietly, "at least... I do in my timeline..." She coughed awkwardly and Spike faceclawed.

"you aren't doing too well at this." he said flatly.

"sorry..." she whispered, "it's just... well, this one is so different from the other timelines... it almost seems like home... like we aren't even needed..."

"This is only one timeline, you've seen the others Twi." Spike replied, vaguely trying to reassure her.

"And there's- oh crap not again..." Reena trailed off, a forcefield emerging from her horn as a multi-coloured blur fell out of the sky, bounced off the forcefield and onto a large and conveniently placed cushion. Twilight gasped. "And this... is Rainbow Dash..." Reena sighed, as the forcefield and cushion vanished in a puff of smoke, "she uh... is in and out of hospital a LOT. I guess this time wasn't as serious as the other hundred and forty seven 'failures'..."

The blue mare stirred slightly before jumping bolt upright and shrieking, "AWESOME! NEARLY GOT IT THIS TIME!" she looked around, and then spotted Reena and galloped over to her, "DID YOU SEE THAT?!"

"I saved your ass from it... so, still trying to figure out the wing?"

Rainbow nodded, turning to the side so that Twilight could see a mechanical wing, identical to the one from the war against Sombra, strapped to Rainbow by several belt looking things. "I'm telling you, Blue- _Jay'_ s nearly got it!" Twilight zoned out, casting her eyes over the invention. it was... incredible! she didn't know anypony could build anything like this. But then she realised... Rainbow's cutie mark was completely different. It was a crash helmet with three silver cogs surrounding it. Weird. things must have gone much differently for Dash here...

"yeah that's nice..." Reena groaned, rolling her eyes, "anyway, this is Spike and this is Twilight. they suddenly showed up half an hour ago and I think they'll be staying here for a while."

Rainbow Dash grinned widely before crouching down to shake Spike's hand, "nice ta meet'cha! and-" She froze as she locked eyes on Twilight, her grin dissipating instantly, instead being replaced by a look of sheer terror. "you..." she whispered.

"uh... yep, it's me... have I umm... done something bad?" Twilight stuttered, slightly worried about what whatever version of herself living here could have done to Rainbow Dash.

"you!" She snarled, the terror morphing into rage, "YOU! SHE DID THIS TOO ME!" The Pegasus looked like she was going to kill the purple pony.

Reena's eyebrows raised, giving Dash a sceptical look, "are you sure? they literally only just got here, they definitely aren't from here..."

"SHE WAS THE ONE WHO KNOCKED ME INTO THAT TREE!" Dash screeched, tearing up slightly, "and- and then- my wing..." and she ran away.

"you?" Reena chuckled, "you of all people... were the one to do that?"

Twilight gulped, "I never-" then it hit her.

 _She pelted, as fast as she could towards the unicorn, determined to knock her straight out of the sky. she felt Spike gripping at her mane... something slammed into her. She ignored it, she ignored everything. except Starlight. This time... this time..._

"oh... oh no..." Twilight's ears fell and she shrank down to the floor, "no, no, no, no, no! this can't be right!"

"It's okay..." Spike soothed, patting the alicorn on the head, "we can fix this, we always do."

"welp." Reena said quickly, trying to move on from what just happened, "carrying on~" she started trotting at a fairly brisk pace and pointing at a building, painted bright blue with several windows, a few scorch marks on the side of it, a strange door that when Twilight approached it, opened by itself, much to her shock. no pony was there. she quickly scrambled away from it, "this is Jay and Nya's... shop... it's more of a lab thing than anything. Jay lives on the top floor, they invent on the first and sell on the ground floor. And if you look around the back..." Reena led them around to the back of the store, Twilight still slightly perturbed by the non-magic opening door.

Around the back was a large open plain The alicorn didn't recognise, it was filled with craters and the occasional gear. ' _Since when was this here?'_ Twilight thought, taking in the view. She turned around after a while and saw a large balcony leading off the back of the first floor. _'that must be where they test the flying inventions...'_

"Anyway~ I don't fancy running into Jay again today so... I'll show you the blacksmith's," Reena said quickly, looking around nervously, like she was afraid before walking back around to the front of the shop, followed by Twilight and Spike.

"is something wrong?" The princess asked, concerned.

"nope. nothing. nothing at all. oh yeah, did I mention that Jay & Nya are the best inventors in the whole of Equestria? really says something about this place doesn't it? their inventions have literally changed the world. it's much more technologically advanced now..." she trailed off, looking over her shoulder as they walked, "we used to import tech from Ninjago in return for some magical goods from here. They sold most of them, which is hilarious. because the ponies think the incredible 'Blue Bolt' and 'Phoenix wave' invented all of it. when they didn't! but now they're trying to figure out how to make a working replacement wing for pegasi who have lost theirs, hence the Rainbow Dash. she was pretty interested in his inventions anyway, but this made her much more... involved in the testing of them."

"oh..." Twilight mumbled, "is that how she got her cutie mark? in testing?"

"pretty much. She was over the moon. and then there was the whole cute-ceañera... it was... interesting... there's Kai's blacksmith," the unicorn pointed out, a wooden building that was open and had a wide berth instead of a door, allowing the ponies to look inside. strangely, this place too was empty, "Kai is the local blacksmith. he get's quite a bit of business from Apple acres, not much else though. but hey, he's keeping his sister and him going. And I hate to admit, he ain't half bad."

"anything else of note?" the alicorn questioned, "and... why is nopony there?"

"Well there's sweet apple acres... eh... if Rainbow isn't hospitalised, I would bet that they're all in the library basement, trying to contact Lloyd," her ears drooped slightly, "so far we haven't made any progress and if he doesn't respond in the next 24 hours they'll go out and find him themselves."

"I've seen the acres before," Twilight said hurriedly, "what happened to Lloyd? we should go back and check! what were you and Zane doing in the library anyway? are you the librarians?" Reena ducked the barrage of questions, to which Spike and Twilight responded to with a confused look.

"sorry... happens sometimes... Anywho~" the unicorn broke into a gallop, "let's find out. so, from the bottom... Zane's the librarian, he lives next door, however recently he has taken to sleeping there encase Lloyd contacts them. I'm not a full time librarian, I'm just stuck there because no one else trusts me fully-"

"why?" the princess asked as Spike slung himself onto her back, as she then galloped over to Reena, trying to match her pace.

"please shut up princess. We are going back to the library because I have to check in every hour I'm not there and your following because I don't trust you. especially after our little rainbow dash revelation," she glared a Twilight, "and Lloyd... well... let's just say he went to investigate an uncharted region of Equestria due to strange magical signatures centering around the area..." they skidded to a halt in front of the library and, upon hearing yelling, burst into the tree, before heading down the stairs.

Four Stallions & a mare stood around the console from earlier, a dark blue pegasus with a brown mane tinkering with something, a dark grey earth pony with a black mane and a notable cowboy hat, a bright red unicorn with a dark brown spiked mane, Zane, and a maroon unicorn mare with a short, neat black mane.

"Status report," Reena said, causing the group to turn around.

"seriously? no hi?" The dark blue one raised an eyebrow, which had a scar running through it. The maroon one nudged him playfully and he blushed.

"shut it," She snapped, "any contact with Lloyd?"

"not yet," The dark grey one said, eyes catching Twilight, "who're they?"

"These are the ones I was talking about," Zane replied, "Twilight Sparkle and Spike."

"please explain to me why you trust them..." the red one sighed.

"Be-" Zane was interrupted by a glitched voice coming from the monitor.

"hE-HE-HelLo?! I-iS ANYOnE TH-tH-Th- ThERe?!"

"Lloyd!" The red one exclaimed, "What's happened?! Are you okay?!"

"have you found the source of the magical signatures?!"

"Why is your visual broken?"

Suddenly, the screen turned from black to static, to a glitchy picture of an emerald coloured unicorn with a neat blonde mane and wide, frightened green eyes, "S-something BaD hAs H-h-h-Happened!"


	4. Exposition express I

**So~ no excuse for lack of updates. but ya know... also I found an amazing glitch text generator which works for here. I could use it... but i'm too lazy and I don't wanna change style halfway through (unlike most of the time)**

The ninjas, gathering closer around the screen, their fur illuminated by the eerie glow of the screen watched as Lloyd's face kept glitching, suggesting that the connection was very weak. It kept dipping in and out of static and the background seemed... under saturated. a bit too dull for anything in Equestria.

"Go on then Lloyd!" Kai urged, "what's happened?!"

"tHe M-m-MaG-mAGicAL sIGNItUrEs wE fOUnD... I De-dEF-DeFINitLEY LOCaTeD iT..."

"Great!" Jay exclaimed happily, a wide grin spreading across his face, "what is it?"

"I think what Jay means to say..." Cole glowered at his blue comrade, who shrank back slightly, "is why you haven't been contacting us for days! did the magic cancel out the communicator?"

The Lloyd onscreen shook his head frantically, "kINd oF... ThE pONy InCHAR-char-chARge StOLE iT FROm m-Me... I G-g-goT It bAck ThOUgh... BuT I'M iN-I- iN a T-t-t-TOn oF TRouBLE... ThEY... aRE-"

Lloyd's eyes widened as he looked around behind him and said quickly, "TuRNing TrACKEr oN... DoN'T kNOw if I cAN E-e-esCAPe." He poked the screen and it turned to black.

The ponies blinked.

Twilight stared at it, trying to analyse the background scenery... trying to figure out what was happening.

"What's happened?!"

"Where is he?!"

"We've got to find him!"

chaos erupted amongst the ponies as they all started yelling and panicking.

A loud crash silenced the group as they all turned to Cole, who dropped a stick from his mouth, using a hind leg to also silence a nearby gong.

"great. glad you're all listening now," he said slowly, eyeing his brothers in arms, "we've got a rescue mission on our hoov-hands. Lloyd's in trouble and who knows what could happen to him if he's captured... we're talking ransom, power, or worse. so. first thing we need to do is NOT panic? capiche?"

everyone nodded.

"brilliant. the tracker has apparently been turned on but whoever Lloyd was running from may have deactivated it... so, Zane, can you get data on the last known location of Lloyd's communicator within the last five hours?"

Zane nodded and his eyes turned an unsettling shade of blue for a while, "found it."

"where?"

"south of the crystal mountains, west north west of Manehattan," the nindroid replied, "I believe the area is named simply 'the place with no name'. there isn't much information available, except it is a large empire like settlement that has being quietly growing in size over the past few years."

"Right." Cole nodded.

"That's incredibly vague," Kai said flatly.

"Kai, don't be such a neigh-sayer..." Jay replied.

Kai's eye twitched, "I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOUR INFERNAL HORSE PUNS!" he roared at the pegasus.

"sorry..." Jay mumbled, "sorry..."

Nya just rolled her eyes, "great. I'll grab the map and figure out what supplies we'll need."

Reena looked around sceptically, "I'll... go... look after the library while you're all gone... see ya!" She said quickly and bolted for the stairs.

The ninjas sighed. The unicorn siblings left, leaving the princess of friendship, an inventor, a nindroid, a dragon and a Cole in an awkward silence.

Jay raised an eyebrow at Twilight, "so, uh... hey there?" he said cautiously, "what brings-" he stopped himself as he spotted Twilight's wings, immediately galloping over to and examining them, "oh my first spinjitsu master!" he squealed, "these look so realistic!" he pulled one open and began to study it carefully, goggles swinging wildly around his neck, "this is incredible... it's a perfect replica!"

Twilight carefully pulled her wing out of the pegasus' grip, "that's because it's real..."

"no way!" Jay laughed, "that's hilarious! you probably need lessons in comedy but still. I'd fall for it if I wasn't an expert in this area..." he trailed off, "who made them for you and how are you managing to keep them attached without straps?"

"because they are real Jay..." Zane said slowly, "i have told you this already."

"but there are only..." Jay paused for a minute before looking at a hoof and seeming to count with it, "Celestia, Luna... Cadance... Lloyd... four alicorns! and they're all alicorns for a reason! how does... Twilight? have them?"

"she's the princess of friendship," Spike said helpfully.

"princess of what?"

"friendship."

"since when?"

The grey pony shrugged.

"But, either way, last time I saw you... I'm positive you weren't an alicorn... unless you've ascended since the wedding..."

"you saw me?" Twilight stuttered.

"oh yeah... she was Shining's sister wasn't she?" Jay added.

"indeed. but this is another version of her."

"Zane. please. we all know that only the realm crystal can do that. and it's very limited. and there aren't multiple versions of everyone when you use it."

"well, Zane hasn't lied before..." Cole said to himself before trotting over to the alicorn, "so... you're seriously from some other universe?"

"yes... no... more like a timeline... it's complicated..."

"of course..." Cole replied looking away for a minute, "you haven't been messing with Sensei's spells again have you?" he glared.

"n-no... i'd never-"

"great... just one thing though... when's your brother's wedding anniversary?"

"April 21st. why is that so important?"

"And summer solstice celebration?"

"what?"

The ponies looked at Twilight, shocked.

"she is definitely not from 'round here..."

"I know... that's basic knowledge... like kindergarten stuff..."

Zane sighed, "the summer solstice celebration marks the longest day of the year, but it also marks the return of Princess Celestia's sister, Luna after her banishment by Starswirl and Celestia, over 1000 years ago. there is also a winter solstice celebration, marking the longest night, which is symbolic of Luna's return and how this caused the night to be longer than the summer solstice... it also improves the princess' outlook on life. she is not all too proud of her past actions."

"oh..."

"yeah. now we're kinda wasting time here and we'll need some permission from the princess to cross into 'the place with no name'."

"she'll never let us go. if we tell her why then she's gonna get worried and ask about her 'nephew'... and we all know how tat's gonna end..." Jay groaned.

"we'll figure something out..."

"really?"

"we're gonna have to."


	5. The train ride

**I know it's been an eternity but I'm just saying, PLEASE review. or else this is going down a path of _'no screw that, no one cares'_ much like how I treat this now. **

***ahem* on the plus side, we get some insight into the history of this timeline, which I put time and effort into, so yay me... I've actually thought about a lot of this story in advance which is different to my usual** 'here's the premise, here's the ending... and there's the mess of scribbles that connects the beginning and end.'

 **I ACTUALLY PLANNED IT OUT! WOOHOO!**

The group sat in an awkward silence on the train to Canterlot, mostly due to the fact they didn't have much to say, but also they knew that somepony would recognise at least one of their voices and then... came the fans... and they would keep on coming, and not _freaking_ stop until whoever's smart enough either creates a distraction or casts some form of spell to push the mob away.

Twilight took in the ninjas faces, and the atmosphere in general... it felt much less lively than back in her timeline, but with all the technological advancements, like mobile phones and tablets and laptops, ponies didn't seem to be as interested in talking to each other... the whole environment it created was reminiscent to one of a subway train... with five people on it.

"so..." She said, breaking the silence, "I'm fascinated to know more about what you do here. Reena has told me about the jobs you do... but..." she leaned forward in her seat slightly, eyes sparkling, "you wouldn't mind telling me more about he events that happen here? I mean, I know that Equestria's under attack a LOT...butIwasjustwonderinghowyoudealwiththem!" she gushed.

Cole took a sharp intake of breath, looking around awkwardly, "well... do you want a general idea of what goes down or how we deal with them?"

"Both," Twilight smiled, before adding, "but whichever you'd rather say."

The ninjas all exchanged concerned glances, as if silently asking who was going to talk. Eventually, Nya sighed in defeat.

"well since you boys are clearly too lazy to say anything..." she hissed, giving the boys a death glare. Reena took a sip of her coffee, completely unfazed by this.

"Sensei Wu, or Starswirl as he's commonly known here..." she began, her horn glowing as an orb of water began to materialise and take the form of a wizened old pony and a tall, powerful looking alicorn, "he has a pretty good relationship with Celestia, they're practically family... anyway, they're really close, in fact they are the strongest bonds between Ninjago and Equestria there are... We start trading items between each realm. We shipped tech over here and they shipped magical goods over there... So, then Luna becomes nightmare moon..."

Another watery form appeared, at first an exact replica of Luna, but then it grew and distorted into the unmistakable form of nightmare moon. The old pony and the alicorn took a few steps back, clearly afraid.

"but using the elements of harmony... they send her to the moon," the water nightmare moon disappears in a spray of water and in it's place a moon in the shape of 'the mare in the moon', it's pupil moving ever so slightly, "Wu returns to Ninjago, hearing about his brother, Garmadon who had been corrupted by the bite of a venomous snake known as The Great Devourer..."

The water ponies nodded to each other before melting away into regular water, which Nya stopped a few inches from the floor and it disappeared. Twilight tilted her head slightly as the water ninja gave her a tired smile, "a few decades later... Garmadon had returned and Wu brought together these guys," she motioned to the stallions next to her, "so they defeat Garmadon and things are fine... but then... Nightmare moon returns..."

The water reappeared and took the shape of six ponies, identical to the ninjas & Nya and a version of nightmare moon. a small watery gem materialised above each of the ninja replicates before they turned into tornadoes and surrounded Nightmare moon, eventually stopping and stepping back. The nightmare moon shrank back into Luna.

"so... Wu sends us six over to try and help since there weren't any ponies that were capable of wielding the elements... But the shards of the elements of Harmony seemed to be drawn to us... and gave us some sort of power which allowed us to redeem her and turn her back into Luna..." the water once again fizzled away, "we go back to Ninjago and we defeat the great devourer... of course we al ask Sensei what the hell was happening there... Me especially... He said they were drawn to our elemental powers... but I didn't know I had any. turns out I do though..." Nya chuckled.

"alright, alright..." Kai rolls his eyes, slightly amused, "I'll make this quicker... So, we defeat nightmare moon, head back to Ninjago and re-adjust to standing on two legs... we defeat the devourer thanks to Garmadon and Lloyd gets hit with an aging potion which causes him to go through puberty REAL fast... so now he's seventeen when he's actually ten... The final battle happens, we win, yay us and we chill out for a while..." He sighed, ears drooping as he said quietly, "and then... we find out that this place is in danger again..."

"And boy was that fun..." Cole muttered.

Twilight quickly spoke up, sensing the discomfort within the group, "you really don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"no, no..." Jay replied, waving a hoof dismissively at her, "we might as well finish..." He cleared his throat, ignoring the quick glare the ninja of fire shot him, "We head back through the mirror and into Equestria... only turns out there's a GOD OF CHAOS causing... well chaos... chaotic situation..." He coughed awkwardly, "anyway, he tried to separate us and trick us into this maze to find the elements of harmony..." he trailed of, "which... he did. so... that was probably the worst experience of my life... But heheh... then, I don't know what happened but Lloyd managed to fix us... and we petrified Discord... anyway, a while later-"

"YOU'RE GONNA SKIP OVER IT?!" Cole hissed at his dark blue companion, "you said if we were gonna tell her, then we were gonna tell her the whole thing!"

Zane sighed, "do not mind them... this happens often when we bring up this subject."

Spike raised an eyebrow, "touchy subject?"

"very."

"welp..." Reena said finally, throwing her coffee cup neatly into a trash can behind her, "if they aren't going to tell you what happens about five minutes after discord..." Her eyes glinted with a slight sense of glee, "then I will... They defeat Discord, which is all well and good and head back over to the mirror... only to find..." she cast her eyes over the other ponies, who, aside from Twilight and Spike, had their eyes glued firmly on the floor.

"The mirror didn't work..." Twilight finished.

"Bingo," Reena smirked, "they found me in front of the mirror... and they kept trying to get it to work... but every time they tried... they failed... And out of frustration..." Twilight saw Kai wince slightly, "well... there's now a statue of Discord lying around..." she paused for effect, "and Kai and Lloyd shattered it. Into many tiny little pieces... It took them a while to realise what they had done... but when they did... well, they wouldn't even _train_ for weeks..."

The alicorn's stomach lurched, "no... they couldn't have..."

"they did," Reena confirmed grimly.

Kai snarled, "don't try and act innocent... like you aren't any worse... at least we regretted our decision... at least WE tried to make up for it!"

Reena grinned smugly, "you don't go about making assumptions like that hothead... you have no idea what happened behind the mirror."

"I think I have a pretty good idea..." He shot back.

Twilight regretted her decision. She regretted it very much. Almost as much as letting Starlight Glimmer escape into the mountains.

The train's horn blared, indicating that they had arrived at their destination.

"Okay!" Cole cried, standing up and walking over to the door, pushing a button and allowing the door to slide open, "everybo-" he cut himself off quickly as he caught a passing by pony's gaze, "everypony off! we're gonna make this quick!"


	6. Canterlot Castle I

Twilight gasped slightly, taking in a sharp, icy breath. The air was unexpectedly cold outside the train, a thin layer of mist blanketing the ground. This didn't seem to bother the busy looking commuter ponies however as they trotted and galloped around trying to reach wherever. She noticed that some were talking into strange looking devices that she had never seen before.

Looking upwards, the purple alicorn saw gleaming skyscrapers, like the ones in Manehatten, scattered around, sandwiched inbetween more familiar, Equestrian designed buildings of bright and bold hues.

"Welp. here we are. Canterlot," Cole said flatly, "the City that really need to make up its mind about the whole modern or not thing." He and the other ninjas stepped off the train, casting weary glances around, as if half expecting an assault.

"Seems safe..." Kai muttered, taking another tentative step forwards and looking about.

"Element bearers!" The sudden loud noise made the entire group's fur stand on end. It was shortly followed by the sound of metal clanging against cement as a slightly dishevelled looking light grey stallion in royal guard armour skidded to a halt in front of the ninjas and gave them a hasty salute.

"Clashing Aegis," Zane replied with a reassuring smile.

"Blizzard Frost," The guard, presumably called Aegis, nodded towards the white Pegasus.

"Clash!" Jay exclaimed happily as he swooped over to the guard, "unorganised as ever I see!" The pair quickly hoof-bumped before Jay added, noticing the slight streak of a red mane protruding from underneath Aegis' helmet, "it's on the fritz again, isn't it? Here, lemme fix-"

Aegis quickly stuck a hoof out in an attempt to stop the over excited Pegasus from touching him, "no, no... it's fine, nopony'll notice."

"So, I'm gonna assume that the Princesses are expecting us," Reena said, raising an eyebrow at the guard, "that or you got lonely at your post again."

Aegis' face gained a faint pink glow, "n-no... they are..." He cast a quick glance over the group, eyes resting for a short while on Twilight and Spike before he moved on, "where's Lloyd?"

"Scout mission, looking for the source of the magical outburst from last Thursday," Nya helpfully responded with a soft smile.

"Celestia'll be a little disappointed..." Aegis mumbled, "and uh, pardon my asking but... Who exactly... Is this?" he questioned, electric blue eyes locked on Twilight.

"Oh uh..." The alicorn stuttered, "I'm... Twilight and this is Spike we're uh-"

"She's Lloyd's apprentice, you know he said he'd get one," Kai said quickly, hoping not to raise any suspicion, "well, here she is... and the dragon's her pet-"

"Assistant," Spike huffed indignantly.

"Assistant. We thought we'd bring her along for the ride."

"Huh," Aegis said, processing this for a while before shrugging, "cool. Well... You should probably come with me, don't wanna attract a mob again." He signalled for the mishmash group to follow him.

After wandering through the tightly packed streets of Canterlot, Aegis lead them to the a seemingly plain bricked building. He knocked on the wall three times before it slid open, revealing a brightly lit passage, adorned by many great torches.

"You cleaned up in here then?" Kai whistled, as he took in the passage, "just as well, s'pose, last time we seemed to be the first pe-ponies to go in there in a millennia."

"We all have spare time," Aegis blushed slightly as he stood aside and said, "you first."

So the ninjas, Twilight, Spike & Reena walked past him, mumbling thanks.

The passage was fairly wide, about four ponies could walk along it side by side and the floor was lined with ancient looking, cracked cobblestone, perhaps many ponies had walked along it. The walls however seemed in much better repair, the marble still gleaming with the reflection of the torches' light.

At the back of the group, Twilight could hear Aegis deep in conversation with the indigo unicorn.

"Where's Gambit? I thought you two always worked shifts together," Reena's voice came.

"Oh... they're ill, flu."

"Of course. And Charm?"

"Wishing you'd come visit."

"You know full well she's just trying to play matchmaker."

"It makes her happy trying."

"And you indulge her?"

"You try saying no to those eyes."

"heheh... watch me."

"Oh!" Aegis said gleefully, "Jackpot's just been accepted into the lunar guard!"

"Lucky her."

"Speaking of which, did your-"

"Shouldn't you be telling us where we're going?" Cole called from the front.

"It's all a straight path, remember?" Aegis called back at the earth pony.

"If you say so."

After a short walk they eventually reached what appeared to be a large wooden block set into the wall. Cole gave it a gentle nudge and it creaked forwards, revealing a floor covered in large blue and white tiles with a long faded red carpet running across the centre of the room.

"Bingo."

The group all jumped out, Reena closing the hidden panel behind them so it looked like nothing was there.

"This way," Aegis said, reassuming lead.

"we all know where we're going Aeg."

"But if I don't look like I'm trying, Boss'll get mad..." Aegis whispered back.

He lead them up the large staircase and into the right corridor. It looked the same as ever to Twilight, unable to notice a single thing different to back in her timeline.

"I guess some things will always stay the same..." She mumbled. Spike nodded in agreement.

The throne room however, was much different to how Twilight remembered it. Not only were the stained glass windows portraying different ponies to her and her friends, being the ninjas, but there were a few less of them. And there were three golden thrones, sitting side by side on the raised plinth which usually only held one. There was a sun engraved on the centre one's, a moon on the left one's and the third one... had the top half obscured by a small tarpaulin, apart from that, it was immaculate, with barely any signs of wear, like it was constantly cleaned and refurbished. Yet if it was that clean, it was obvious nopony used it, not in a long while.

Twilight wondered if it was Cadence's, but then she remembered it was a different colour. And shape. She mentally facehoofed for being so stupid. It looked nothing like Cadance's throne! Maybe it was Lloyd's... no, the tarpaulin suggested that whoever owned it wasn't around anymore... But Lloyd was alive. So, was it possible that that throne belonged to a fifth alicorn? Could it perhaps be... Starswirl's?

Upon the sun and moon thrones sat Celestia and Luna, Luna apparently playing on a DS console and Celestia reading some form of document. Aegis cleared his throat, "your majesties..."

Luna looked up quickly, grinning and waving at the group, "HELLO!" she called in her slightly imposing royal voice. She stopped quickly and cleared her throat, "Hello! It's been a while!" she tilted her head slightly, "where is-" A short 8-bit tune came from her console and the princess of the night sighed, "oh horseapples... I was so close too..." after a moment of fiddling with the game console she nudged her sister, "Sister, they're here."

"Oh," Celestia said in a tired voice, looking up from her paperwork at the ninjas who all sunk into low bows.

"Princesses," they said.

"I'll just... Leave. Now," Aegis mumbled, backing out of the room.

"Well, I suppose it is nice to see you," Celestia smiled wearily, lacing the document aside as she stood up, alongside her sister and walked over to the heroes, "you'll have to excuse me, it's been a long day... What brings you here? another adventure?" She paused for a while, looking at Twilight with vague confusion, "Twilight? what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I-" Twilight suddenly became quite flustered, eyes darting around the room. This didn't usually happen with her mentor but maybe it was because the motherly air about her had somehow weakened, "I- uh..."

"And where did you get those wings?" Celestia continued, looking at Twilight curiously, "something feels... Very different about you."

Twilight shrank back slightly as the others were clearly trying to come up with a reasonable lie to cover for Twilight when eventually Zane spoke up.

"Twilight is not the Twilight you know, she is one that has apparently been flung across time and space from an alternate timeline."

It was so hard not to facehoof.


	7. Plus two

Silence.

Then Celestia laughed. She laughed for quite a while, making the group even more uncomfortable than they thought possible.

"Another timeline?" Celestia chuckled, trying to regain her composure. Then her face grew serious, "I didn't know you had it in you to joke, Zane."

"I think you will find I-"

"Anyway," Cole said quickly, trying to spare everyone the agony of Zane's innocent mistake, "Sorry to interrupt but could we head out on a scouting mission? I know that Lloyd went to check it out but he asked for backup so..."

That was the wrong thing to say.

"Backup?" Celestia repeated, concern growing on her face as she seemingly forgot about the alicorn anomaly and her dragon. The sun pony began to pace around anxiously, "He isn't in danger, is he? I can't lose him to whatever's out there... I promised Wu..."

"Sister..." Luna soothed, putting a hoof on her sister's shoulder, "Lloyd is perfectly capable of looking after himself and you know that..." They saw the white alicorn sigh.

"I know sister... But..." She paused, "Maybe I am worrying too much about him..." She looked at the ninjas, "Very well then... You can go after him... But take a few guards with you, just enca-"

"Tia..." The younger alicorn shook her head, "These ponies have saved Equestria countless times... I am sure they can handle this."

Celestia sighed once more, "Just take Aegis..." The princess of the night gave her a hard glare, "And his sister..." There was a playful glint in the mare's eyes as she said this, which, Twilight notice, seemed to send a small shiver down Reena's back, "He needs the experience anyway."

"Of course," Cole replied, bowing to the princess and said, "Come on guys, we're gonna need some supplies."

Just as Twilight turned to leave however, she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned around. It was Celestia, looking at her grimly.

"Twilight," She said in a hushed voice, "If what Zane said is true..." She paused, seemingly trying to find the right words, "Then..." She smiled, "I'm very proud of you... But be careful, meddling with time is a dangerous feat that not even Wu could truly master... Try not to get anypony killed..."

Twilight nodded vigorously before galloping out of the hall to catch up with the others, the royal sisters watching.

"Though I fear you already have..."

* * *

The ride back to Ponyville was rather uneventful, other than an overexcited Aegis chattering about how 'pumped' he was to be able to go out on a mission with the ninjas.

"I can't believe it!" He squeaked, "Celestia chose _me_ to come with you?! I can't believe it!"

Without his guard armour, Aegis looked very different. As Jay had explained, the armour used a combination of magic and technology to disguise the wearer's identity, changing it to the 'standard guard appearance'. While he was still light grey, his muzzle and tips of his ears were white and his mane was a watermelon red... It looked like he had attempted to make it look neat, but gave up as the front of his mane was hanging limply over his blue eyes. He nervously tried to sweep it aside.

"Don't get cocky kid," Kai remarked with a smirk, enjoying the excitement of the stallion.

"I'll try... But I just can't-"

"We know you can't," Reena said flatly, "You've said so at least fifty times."

"Oh..." Aegis blushed slightly, looking at the floor, "I can't wait to tell Jackpot! She's gonna be so excited about this! Her first week and she gets to go on a scout mission with _the_ ninjas!"

Jackpot's response was not the one that Aegis had expected, for once he pulled out a watch-like device, similar to the ones the others wore and tapped in a contact name, there Jackpot was... It was underwhelming to say the least.

After the brief sound of scrambling about and the faint curl of smoke, a pony appeared on screen.

"Hey, Jackie!" Aegis grinned widely, "Guess what?"

 _[What?]_ Was the text that appeared onscreen. Twilight squinted at it slightly, wondering what was going on.

"It's called texting," Jay explained in a hushed voice, "And we think that Jackpot's mute... Or selectively mute, never found out. 'Course, there are also a lot of other things about her that we don't know for sure... One being what the smoke is from... I think it's a poorly hidden cigarette... But Kai's thinks it's something a lot more sinister."

"Like what?"

"Changeling," Jay didn't have to say any more.

"So, you & I have been chosen... By _Celestia_... to go on a scouting mission with the ninjas tomorrow!" The earth pony gazed eagerly at the screen, waiting for a response.

The dark green Pegasus blinked, giving her _brother_ an unreadable look with her yellow eyes that seemed to be trying to convey something. What, however, was a mystery. The term brother was used rather loosely though, as there wasn't really any resemblance between the two, other than the patches of different coloured fur on their bodies, Jackpot's being a very muddy green... Not to mention that her mane was blue.

Twilight thought it was safe to assume that one of the two were adopted... _If_ that... But pushing the thought out of her head, she decided that it was Jay's theory, as Jackpot's eyes were slightly reddened.

 _[ok]_

"What do you mean 'ok'?!" Aegis nearly yelled, waving his hooves in the air, "This is a once in a lifetime thing!"

Jackpot gave him a half-hearted nod before typing once more.

 _[I'll grab my stuff. C u at station tomorrow. BTW Charm is still shipping you and Jinx]_

Jackpot's face disappeared from the screen.

Aegis sighed, "One day..." He carefully placed the communicator into his blue saddlebag, opting instead to look out the window.

* * *

When the group eventually reached Ponyville, they all headed down to the library basement, where they kept all their 'kit'.

"Nunchucks?"

"Check."

"Shurikens?"

"Check."

"Katanas?"

"Check."

"And I've got my Scythe so... Masks?"

"Check."

"Bags?"

"Check."

"Communicators?"

"Check."

"Food?"

"You said you'll get some apples an' stuff from the farm," Kai replied.

Cole sighed, flicking his Stetson lightly, "Fine... I'll have to explain to them I'm taking some time off anyway, hopefully Mac'll be able to handle the work alone," he mused.

Twilight watched, fascinated as the ninjas picked up and packed and squabbled with their weapons. She didn't think she had ever actually seen anything like them before... There was something fascinating about those weapons, they weren't magic, they weren't anything incredibly special or powerful but just looking at the way the elementals handled them... Well, Twilight had a good idea of how deadly they could be.

Spike and Reena sat on the stairs beside her, watching them pack.

"Don't you have anything you need to take?" Reena mused, knowing full well everything Twilight had was with her.

"No," Twilight responded, still fixated on everything that was going on around her... Everything but the one to her far left.

Spike then decided to say something, "What're we gonna do Twilight?"

"Go with them," Twilight shrugged, "If Lloyd's been hurt... Well... And we have nothing else to do..." She paused as what Zane had said played on loop in her mind:

 _'The place with no name'..._

"And something about where we're headed seems familiar... And very, VERY untrustworthy."

 **I wonder where Twilight's heard that before... ;P Who knows.**

 **Sorry for long periods between updates too! I am in fact working on a cover for this fic... It will take a while as it's gonna be digitally drawn this time! I just need to finish the sketches (I've gone through about twenty already) and scan them in before I can start properly creating the cover... It might be a little cluttered but man... I AM SO PUMPED UP!**


	8. Preparations

**Ta-da! this fic's not dead yet.**

Packing took longer than the group had estimated, even with there being nine of them.

Twilight watched as the ninjas ran in and out of the library, carrying their possessions with them, occasionally directing a customer to a book. Twilight sighed, running a hoof along the wall, she did miss this place.

"Oookay..." Jay said after a few hours of arranging everything into easy to carry saddle-bags, "I think we're all good... Are we good?"

Cole's stomach growled, "Well... We could go for some food, I'm starved!"

"You're always hungry!"

"Yeah, but I work on a farm!"

The ninjas glared at each other before bursting out into laughter.

"Alright, dirtclod, let's go find some food."

* * *

Cole wasn't kidding when he said he was hungry as he wolfed down a hay burger, completely unfazed by everyone else watching him.

"Is he... Always like that?" Twilight asked Kai quietly, trying not to let the pony in question hear.

"Ever since he started working on the farm, he's a pretty bad example for Bloom."

Twilight smiled weakly, "I can imagine..."

"You gonna eat that?" Cole asked, pointing at Twilight's untouched meal.

"Well I was but, since you asked..."

"Nah, you can have it," the earth pony responded, waving a hoof dismissively, "You're gonna need to eat something if you're coming with us tomorrow... You are coming right?"

"Of course!" The alicorn said, "I want to help you find Lloyd!" Then added more quietly, "And I'd love to see how you deal with a crisis anyway, it'd be interesting to compare."

"That's Twilight talking!" Jay grinned, "Knew there was still the little geek in there."

Twilight smiled, turning faintly pink.

* * *

Night fell quickly after, wrapping Ponyville in a soft veil of ember orange.

The ninjas had decided it best to camp out in the library so they wouldn't have to make multiple trips to the station and back.

"Why not just use our dragons?" Nya had asked as she finished laying out her makeshift bed on the floor.

"You have to remember, Nya, not everyone can summon one, and not everyone would fit. It would also be far too conspicuous encase we are expected."

"I guess..." The master of water mumbled, lying down, "Budge up Jay!" She grumbled, pushing the blue Pegasus away from her blanket. He simply groaned and rolled over.

"Night."

"Night."

"Goodnight."

"Shut up an' go ta sleep."

"Night."

"Zane, did you set the alarm?"

"Yes."

"Okay, cool."

Twilight listened to the click of the light turning out and rolled over so that she could face the window from her temporary bed upon its sill. Everything was quiet. It was calm. The houses were dark, the birds in the trees and the sidewalks hopped along and whistled every now and again. After about ten minutes a cat came sauntering down the road.

It was strange how she never truly noticed how peaceful Ponyville could be, or how rarely she'd simply sat by the window and watched the world go by. There was always something she had to do... And now? Did she really have to do anything? The ninjas were the heroes here, the peacekeepers. The world would still turn without her and her friends, there would always be somepony else to save the day. What a comforting yet scary thought... What a comforting yet scary world.

* * *

"Hello?" The green alicorn called out as he cautiously wandered through the abandoned street. The town was small, so small that it couldn't really be considered a town... Maybe a village? Or a Hamlet? Perhaps this was a question for another time.

He glanced over his shoulder, checking to see he hadn't been followed. No one in sight. The green ninja didn't quite know if that reassured him or not. He sighed, kicking up a cloud of dust with his hoof, coating it in the stuff, turning it dusty green. Dusty green. Perhaps if he could blend in better, if he wasn't such a vivid colour, he'd be less noticeable, have a chance of escape so he could get back to Ponyville and tell the others.

Tell the others what? What he had found? Would they believe it? What the energy source really was. It wasn't random either. No. It had been deliberate. Someone had been trying to call attention to themselves... But for what purpose? He knew Twilight had been passing through here on a research trip to the crystal mountains... There hadn't been any news, but then again, Twilight could get so absorbed in her studies. At least, he certainly hoped that was the case.

Lloyd shook his head, _'Focus. Focus. Gotta get back to Ponyville... Gotta hide.'_

But where could he hide? It was pretty much barren out there, and he couldn't just break down someone's door and say 'Royal ninja business!' As he had tried that once... And that did not go down well with Aunt Celestia.

Or he could use one of those spells he'd been trying to master. Invisibility... No, he had no idea how to do that uh... um... He took another brief look over his shoulder and to his horror he could see the silhouette of the ponies that had been chasing him. His heart beat frantically as he tried to think of what to do... Shapeshifting spell? Could he even do that? Worth a shot. He screwed his eyes shut and his horn let out a burst of light-

"Psst! Hey!"

Lloyd whipped around to face the source of the noise, a pony, motioning frantically to him behind a doorway.

"In here!"

He froze.

"Hurry!"

Deciding that his chances of evasion were better inside, he sprinted through the doorway and the pony bolted it shut behind them.

He turned around to face them, "Thanks," He said quickly.

The pony shook their head, "You really shouldn't've been out there at this time, dangerous ponies are out there."

"Dangerous... Ponies? Like the armoured ones?"

The pony peered through the blinds before turning back to Lloyd, "No. They're the good ones... But there'd been... An incident..."

"What incident?"

"You really aren't from around here, are you?" The pony smiled, their gaze falling briefly to Lloyd's flank, "Figures, you don't even have a cutie mark at all."

Lloyd flinched. Oh dear. This wasn't going to end well... He looked at his flank too, only to jump back slightly to see, instead of his spinjitsu, a blank space of navy blue. Weell... At least it worked.

"Uh... Yeah..." He said quickly, now realising he had no idea what he looked like.

"Hey, don't worry about it, around here we don't judge each other based on cutie marks or lack of thereof..." The pony replied. Only then did Lloyd see that their smile was a little too wide, the corners of their mouth twitching every so often.

His blood ran cold.

"Well, it was great to meet you but I think I need to get going now, nearly dark and everything so-"

The pony chuckled, "No no no..." They shook their head, the eery smile still plastered on their face, "No no no no no. You can't leave just yet..." From out of the corner of his eye, the green ninja saw the door slowly open.

"It isn't safe out there."

And everything went black.


End file.
